Passport expiration question

I just noticed that our passports will expire in 5 months after we are scheduled to arrive in Jamaica. I plan on getting them renewed next week, but does anyone know if Jamaica is one of the countries that requires you to have a current passport dated more than 6 months from the expiration date when entering the country?
Thank you!

I had mine changed right before out last trip because I changed my name. They issue an all new passport when they do this and I got mine only a week or two prior to our trip. Nobody said a word. I hadn't even thought to ask about this prior to our trip. I don't have any hard evidence but in my experience they do not require you to have it for 6 months prior to travel. Thank goodness they don't or I would have been in trouble!

You may want to check on the Jamaica Gov site just to be sure, but I think I have read on here that you don't have to have 6 months left on your passport. I think as long as it is valid for your entire trip, you are OK.

. . . in my experience they do not require you to have it for 6 months prior to travel. Thank goodness they don't or I would have been in trouble!

That's not the issue. Some countries (e.g., England) will not allow you to enter the country if your passport will expire within six months. For example, if you travel to England today and your passport expiration date is in April 2011, you will not be allowed to enter (truthfully, you probably wouldn't be allowed on the plane). It doesn't matter how new your passport is.

Jamaica is not one of the countries that adheres to the 6-month policy.

I had mine changed right before out last trip because I changed my name. They issue an all new passport when they do this and I got mine only a week or two prior to our trip. Nobody said a word. I hadn't even thought to ask about this prior to our trip. I don't have any hard evidence but in my experience they do not require you to have it for 6 months prior to travel. Thank goodness they don't or I would have been in trouble!

That doesn't matter, it's when it's within 6 months of the expiration date. Not sure about the Jamaican policies concerning this though.

I had the same concerns as you do. I called the Jamaican Embassy in Washington D.C. and I was told Jamaica does not have that policy. I also called Air Jamaica and was also told there is no such policy in Jamaica. We had no problem at all when we flew in August 2010. Have a great time!!

I have my passport but my boyfriend hasn't gotten his yet. We are traveling to CSS in April so I was worried about the same issue. So I sent an email to the Jamaican embassy asking the same exact question your asking. They said tht they do not require the passport to be valid for 6 months prior to travel.

I know the requirement you are talking about but I couldn't remember for sure regarding Jamaica, it's never been an issue for us so it never stuck with me. I do know years ago you could actually use one that was expired by some period of months but I think that has now changed. I did google it and every website I checked just said a valid passport so I guess I'd have to say as long as it's not expired you are ok. If you are still worried you can contact the us government here and ask...just google it and you'll get contact info. Someone else may be sure on this but since you hadn't gotten a good answer I thought I'd chime in with what I did know and found.

We were at CN two years ago and ran into a couple with a nightmare story. The wife had a passport that was going to expire in 3 months. When they checked in at the airport in TX, she was not allowed to board the plane because her passport was going to expire within 6 months. They paid a lot of money to get a passport within a day. We are leaving for CSS in 13 days and my passport would have only been valid for a little over 6 months. I opted to renew it early so I wouldn't have any worries.

I have never heard of any country requiring a passport to be held for a minimum period of time BEFORE you travel, however it is very common for a country to insist that you have at least 6 months left on your passport before it expires at the point of your visit. From the UK you are advised that you cannot visit the US, Canada or Jamaica (plus most others) without at least 6 months left on your passport at the time of your trip. My passport expires in November so I checked as we are headed back to CSS in March.

The Bottom Line is that you need to travel with a valid passport. IF your passport is schedule to expire within 6 months of traveling abroad, I would urge you to renew now vs. the potential of being denied access to the destination.